Part 2: maps and plans
Map and plan labelling uses a small set of direction phrases and a predictable route. Learn the orientation routine, the location language and the left/right trap, then follow a park ranger round a full map.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
- Orient yourself on a map or plan before the audio: starting point, north, and labelled landmarks
- Understand and use 20 key direction and location phrases (opposite, adjacent to, beyond, just past, clockwise, at the junction…)
- Track left and right correctly when the speaker is walking in different directions
- Follow a speaker's route in order and re-anchor on landmarks after a missed answer
Map questions: hard at first, very learnable
Map and plan labelling usually appears in Part 2. You see a drawing of a park, a campus, a museum floor, a town centre or a building, with letters (A–H or A–I) on it. A speaker describes where things are, and you match each place in the list to a letter. On paper you write the letter. On computer you usually click the letter in a grid.
Why many candidates struggle:
- It tests two skills at once: direction language (opposite, beyond, adjacent to) and following a route in real time.
- A one-second confusion between left and right is enough to lose the mark.
- There are always more letters than questions, so some letters are deliberately close to the right one.
Why it is very learnable:
- The language is a small set of about 20 phrases. You will learn all of them in this lesson.
- Speakers almost always start from a fixed point (the entrance, or “where we're standing now”) and move in a logical order.
- The questions follow that order.
With a reliable orientation routine and the phrases below, map questions become some of the most dependable marks in Part 2.
The orientation routine: do this before the audio starts
- 1
Find the starting point
Look for Entrance, You are here, Main gate or Reception. The speaker almost always begins there. Put your finger on it.
- 2
Find north
Check the compass. North is usually at the top, but not always. Speakers often use compass directions such as in the north-east corner or to the south of the lake.
- 3
Name the labelled landmarks
Car park, lake, café, reception, main road. The speaker will describe unlabelled places in relation to these. Say their names in your head so you recognise them instantly.
- 4
Look at what each letter is next to
For each letter, think: “B is next to the car park. D is across the lake from the junction. F is at the end of the corridor.” This turns letters into descriptions you can match.
- 5
Read the list of places
The questions (Café, Bike hire, Bird hide…) are usually in the order you'll hear them. Notice that the first one is probably close to the starting point.
- 6
Follow the route with your finger
While you listen, move your finger (or the mouse pointer) along the speaker's route. When they say turn left, turn your finger too. This is the best defence against left/right mistakes.
Direction and location language
| Phrase | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
opposite / directly opposite / across from | On the other side of a path, road or corridor, facing it | “The café is directly opposite the Visitor Centre.” |
diagonally opposite | Opposite, but also further along: across AND along | “The bank is diagonally opposite the post office.” |
next to / beside / adjacent to | Immediately at the side of (adjacent to is more formal and common in plans) | “The office is adjacent to reception.” |
between | With one thing on each side | “The shop is between the bank and the library.” |
behind / in front of | At the back or the front of something, from the path or entrance | “The staff office is just behind the main building.” |
at the far end (of) | At the end furthest from you | “The toilets are at the far end of the corridor.” |
in the corner / in the north-east corner | Where two sides of an area meet | “Bike hire is in the north-west corner of the car park.” |
beyond | Further away than; on the other side of | “Beyond the bridge you'll see the boathouse.” |
just past / just after | A short distance after you pass something | “The bins are just past the gate, on the right.” |
just before | A short distance before you reach something | “Just before the stairs, there's a lift.” |
on your left as you enter / as you go in | Left from the point of view of someone walking IN | “Reception is on your left as you enter.” |
straight ahead / straight on / directly ahead | In front of you, without turning | “Go straight on and you'll reach the lake.” |
north-east of / to the south of | A compass position relative to a landmark | “The playground is to the south of the pond.” |
clockwise / anticlockwise (US: counterclockwise) | Round a circle in the direction a clock's hands move, or the opposite way | “Walk round the lake clockwise.” |
the path curves / bends / winds round | The path changes direction gradually | “The path curves round to the left.” |
at the junction / where the paths meet / at the crossroads / at the T-junction | The point where two or more paths or roads meet | “Turn right at the junction.” |
halfway along / halfway down | In the middle of a path, road or corridor | “Halfway along the corridor is the computer room.” |
alongside / runs parallel to | Next to and in the same direction as | “The cycle track runs alongside the river.” |
facing / overlooking | Looking towards (overlooking = from a higher position or with a view over) | “The terrace overlooks the lake.” |
Ground floor
Worked example audio: a librarian's directions
Answers: 1 Children's library = A 2 Computer room = C 3 Quiet study room = D
Orientation first: the entrance is at the bottom (south). Walking in means walking north, so your left is west and your right is east. The labelled landmarks are Reception (left, near the entrance), Toilets & lift (right, near the entrance) and the Staff room (top left).
Route: entrance → up the corridor (A and B on the left, C on the right) → end of the corridor → turn right (east) → D on the left.
- “people often think… behind reception, but that's actually a meeting room”This is a distractor. B is the room behind (west of) reception, and the speaker tells you it is NOT the children's library. Map questions use corrections just like form completion does.
- “beyond reception, further along the corridor on your left”Beyond means further on from reception. Walking north, the next room on the left after reception is A, the large room. B is beside reception, not beyond it.
- “Directly opposite the children's library, on the right-hand side”Once you have fixed A, the next answer is described relative to it. Opposite A across the corridor, on the right (east), is C.
- “go to the end of the corridor and turn right”At the top of the corridor you are facing north. Turning right means you now face east, and your LEFT is now north. The room on the left in the north-east corner is D. The Staff room is in the north-west corner, behind you.
How speakers move through a map
Speakers describe locations in three ways, and most talks mix all three:
| Type | Sounds like | How to follow it |
|---|---|---|
| Route (walker's view) | “Go up the path, turn left at the junction, and it's on your right.” | Move your finger along the route, turning as the speaker turns |
| Compass (bird's-eye view) | “It's in the north-east corner of the park, to the south of the lake.” | Use the compass and ignore which way you're facing |
| Landmark-relative | “It's directly opposite the café, next to the car park.” | Find the landmark first, then look beside or across from it |
Three patterns you can rely on:
- The speaker starts at the starting point (the entrance, or “where we're standing now”).
- Each new place is usually described from the previous one or from a labelled landmark. “Opposite the café…”, “Just past the bird hide…”
- The questions follow the route. If question 13 is near the lake, question 14 won't be back at the entrance.
If you miss an answer: pattern 2 is your recovery tool. Wait for the next labelled landmark or the next place the speaker names, put your finger there, and continue. One missed letter must not become three.
Check your understanding
7 questions- 1
On a map with north at the top, you are walking SOUTH along a path. A building is on your LEFT. Where is it on the map?
- 2
You enter a building from the south and walk north along a corridor. The speaker says: “The lift is on your right.” Which side of the corridor is it on?
- 3
The British English opposite of clockwise is .
- 4
Match each phrase to its meaning.
beyond the bridgejust past the gateadjacent to receptionat the far end of the corridor - 5
The speaker says: “You might expect the shop to be next to the café, but it's actually opposite it, across the square.” Where is the shop?
- 6
A map has north at the top. You start at the southern edge of a round lake and walk round it clockwise.
You start by heading west.
- 7
Which THREE things should you identify on the map BEFORE the audio starts?
Select 3.
Answer every question to check.
Practice: Westbrook Country Park
6 questionsA park ranger tells visitors where the facilities are in a country park. Do the orientation routine first: find the main entrance, north, the lake, the car park and the Visitor Centre.
Recording
🎧 Read the questions first, then play the recording once — just like the real test. You can replay it after checking your answers.
Questions 11–16
Label the map below.
Write the correct letter, A–H, next to Questions 11–16.
Westbrook Country Park
Bike hire
Café
Bird hide
Picnic area
Adventure playground
Boat hire
Route review: how each answer was located
| Q | Key directions in the script | The letter that trapped people |
|---|---|---|
11 Bike hire (C) | car park “on your left as you come in” → “far corner… north-west… furthest from the main path” | The Visitor Centre area (“It used to be inside the Visitor Centre”) |
12 Café (A) | Visitor Centre on your right → café “directly opposite… on the left-hand side of the path” | B, the staff office “just behind the Visitor Centre” |
13 Bird hide (D) | junction → “straight ahead across the water… northern shore… directly opposite you” | F or E, if you didn't look straight across |
14 Picnic area (E) | left at junction → right at corner (now facing north) → “on your right, between the path and the lake” | H, the meadow (“please don't sit there”) |
15 Adventure playground (G) | right at north-east corner (now facing south) → “gap… on your left… into the woodland” | F, if you forgot that left = east when facing south |
16 Boat hire (F) | “directly opposite the gap… on the right-hand side… edge of the lake” | G, if you mixed up left and right |
Final quiz: maps and plans
10 questions- 1
“Go through the main gate and the path curves round to the left. Just past the bend, the toilets are on your right.” Where are the toilets?
- 2
Speaker: “The cinema is diagonally opposite the bank.”
The cinema is on the same side of the street as the bank.
- 3
A room that is right next to another room is to it. (This formal word is common in descriptions of building plans.)
- 4
On a plan with north at the top, the speaker says: “The gym is in the north-west corner.” Where on the plan is it?
- 5
Put the orientation routine in order.
Drag the cards (or use the arrows) into the correct order.
- 1Find the compass and check where north is
- 2Find the starting point (entrance or you are here)
- 3Follow the speaker's route with your finger as you listen
- 4Name the labelled landmarks near each letter
- 5Read the list of places, which are usually in the order you'll hear them
- 6
“Don't confuse the old boathouse, which is now a museum, with the new boathouse at the end of the jetty, where you hire boats.” Choose TWO correct statements.
Select 2.
- 7
You missed question 13. The speaker now says: “From the bird hide, carry on along the top of the lake…” What is the most useful thing to do?
- 8
Match each description to its type of map language.
“Turn left at the junction.”“It's in the south-east corner.”“It's opposite the library.”“Go round the lake anticlockwise.” - 9
On a map with north at the top, you start on the WESTERN side of a round lake and walk anticlockwise. Which direction do you move first?
- 10
“The playground is just the café” means that you walk past the café and the playground is a little further on.
Answer every question to check.
Key takeaways
Map and plan vocabulary
Saved as flashcards with a free accountadjacent (to)
adjective/əˈdʒeɪsnt/
Next to or very near something else.
সংলগ্ন / পাশাপাশি
The prayer room is adjacent to the main lecture theatre.
beyond
preposition/bɪˈjɒnd/
On the far side of something; further away than something.
ওপারে / পেরিয়ে
Beyond the footbridge, you'll see the boat club.
junction
noun/ˈdʒʌŋkʃn/
A place where two or more roads or paths meet.
সংযোগস্থল / মোড়
Turn right at the junction and the hostel is the second building on the left.
anticlockwise
adverb / adjective/ˌæntiˈklɒkwaɪz/
In the opposite direction to the way the hands of a clock move (American English: counterclockwise).
ঘড়ির কাঁটার বিপরীত দিকে
The tour goes anticlockwise round the gallery, starting with the oldest paintings.
diagonally
adverb/daɪˈæɡənəli/
In a slanting direction from one corner to the opposite corner.
কোনাকুনি
The pharmacy is diagonally opposite the bus stop.
overlook
verb/ˌəʊvəˈlʊk/
To have a view over a place, usually from above.
উপর থেকে দেখা যায় এমন অবস্থানে থাকা
Our hotel room overlooked the river, so we could watch the boats at sunset.
alongside
preposition/əˌlɒŋˈsaɪd/
Next to and in the same direction as something long, such as a road or river.
পাশ দিয়ে / পাশাপাশি
A cycle lane runs alongside the main road all the way to the campus.
entrance
noun/ˈentrəns/
A door, gate or opening through which you enter a place.
প্রবেশপথ
Meet me at the north entrance of the stadium, next to the ticket office.
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